LABRIDAE


Leptojulis cyanopleura, 9.9 cm SL
(photo by Richard Winterbottom)


Leptojulis cyanopleura
(Bleeker, 1853)
Shoulderspot Wrasse

D IX, 11; A III, 11-12; P1 13; LLp 27; GR 19-22. Body slender. Front of jaws with 2 pairs of large canines; a prominent canine tooth posteriorly on upper jaw. Lateral line complete. Color: initial phase whitish with 2 orange-brown stripes on upper half of head and body, the first from upper lip through eye to midbase of caudal fin, the second, narrower, from top of head along base of dorsal fin to tip of caudal peduncle. Terminal males bluish grey with a blue-edged orange-yellow stripe from front of snout through eye to middle of caudal fin; a group of blue-edged black scales forming a spot on stripe above pectoral fins; a blue-edged black spot middorsally on nape; caudal fin blue with 3 or 4 oblique orange-yellow bands in upper and lower half of fin. Size: maximum length about 13 cm. Distribution: Central Indian Ocean to western Pacific. Remarks: aggregates usually in small group above reefs at depths of 6-45 m.